A fitness band or phone motion sensor can measure how many steps a person takes walking, and the average individual takes between 2,000 to 2,500 steps every mile.Running steps have a greater stride length, allowing for a mile to contain 1,000–2,000 steps.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
Ten thousand steps adds up to four or five miles. Depending on your stride length, the amount of steps you take in a mile can vary from person to person. You may start to visualize how far you need to walk in order to reach 10,000 steps per day after you know how many steps are usual for a mile.
It is also backwards compatible. When you consider how many miles you actually manage to log during your regular activities, the distance may not appear as far.You will reach your daily objective if you don’t stop moving.
Average Steps Per Day: How Many Miles Adults Walk
Walking and Running
For a quick rule of thumb, an older research study found these average steps per mile at walking and running speeds:
- Walking 20 minutes per mile (3 miles per hour): 2,252 steps per mile
- Walking 15 minutes per mile (4 miles per hour): 1,935 steps per mile
- Running 12 minutes per mile (5 miles per hour): 1,951 steps per mile
- Running 10 minutes per mile (6 miles per hour): 1,672 steps per mile
- Running 8 minutes per mile (7.5 miles per hour): 1,400 steps per mile
Using these averages, here is how far you might go using various step totals. Keep in mind this will vary depending on your individual step length.
| Steps | Walk (Shorter Stride) |
Brisk Walk/Jog (Moderate Stride) |
Run (Long Stride) |
Fast Run (Very Long Stride) |
| 1,000 | 0.4 miles | 0.5 miles | 0.6 miles | 0.7 miles |
| 2,000 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| 3,000 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 2.1 |
| 4,000 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.9 |
| 5,000 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 6,000 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 4.3 |
| 7,000 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 5.0 |
| 8,000 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 5.7 |
| 9,000 | 4.0 | 4.6 | 5.3 | 6.4 |
| 10,000 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 5.9 | 7.1 |
| 12,000 | 5.3 | 6.2 | 7.1 | 8.6 |
| 15,000 | 6.7 | 7.7 | 8.8 | 10.7 |
| 20,000 | 8.9 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 14.3 |
| 25,000 | 11.1 | 12.8 | 14.7 | 17.9 |
| 30,000 | 13.3 | 15.4 | 17.6 | 21.4 |
| 40,000 | 17.8 | 20.5 | 23.5 | 28.6 |
Estimations by Height
Many fitness trackers use estimates based on height and ask for your height during setup. Rough estimates of steps per mile based on a stride-to-height ratio are:
| Height | Steps per Mile |
| 4 feet 10 inches | 2,601 steps |
| 4 feet 11 inches | 2,557 steps |
| 5 feet even | 2,514 steps |
| 5 feet 1 inch | 2,473 steps |
| 5 feet 2 inches | 2,433 steps |
| 5 feet 3 inches | 2,395 steps |
| 5 feet 4 inches | 2,357 steps |
| 5 feet 5 inches | 2,321 steps |
| 5 feet 6 inches | 2,286 steps |
| 5 feet 7 inches | 2,252 steps |
| 5 feet 8 inches | 2,218 steps |
| 5 feet 9 inches | 2,186 steps |
| 5 feet 10 inches | 2,155 steps |
| 5 feet 11 inches | 2,125 steps |
| 6 feet even | 2,095 steps |
| 6 feet 1 inch | 2,067 steps |
| 6 feet 2 inches | 2,039 steps |
| 6 feet 3 inches | 2,011 steps |
| 6 feet 4 inches | 1,985 steps |
Measuring Your Steps
You can use a step-counting fitness tracker or the step-counting function of your mobile phone to count your steps, or you can count them in your head. The best way to find your average steps per mile is to count them several times for a known distance and see your average:How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
Running Track
You can utilize a local school’s regulation quarter-mile track to find a measured mile. It could be necessary for you to request that the coach confirm that the track is a quarter-mile (1,320 feet) as opposed to a 400-meter (1,308 feet) one. Proceed solely in the inside lane. Make a step count.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
On a quarter-mile track, it’s better to circle four times to obtain a full mile, so there’s no arithmetic involved. Walk around a 400-meter track four times, then multiply the number of steps by 1.009.
Use a Football Field
A football field is 300 feet from the goal line to opposite goal line. Count your steps as you walk or run at your usual pace from the goal line to the goal line. Multiply your steps by 17.6 to get your steps per mile.
Fitness Trackers
Fitness trackers, such as Fitbits or sports watches, will do the counting for you and can be a convenient way to track steps and a variety of other data, such as heart rate or stress scores, just by wearing it on your wrist. However, wearable devices tend to be an investment and reliable options can cost about $100 to $300 or more depending on the style and features included in it.
Apps
You can use a smartphone app like MapMyWalk to measure a mile using your phone’s GPS and track the number of steps you take. However, when using GPS, the mile distance can be 10% wrong.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
GPS signals travel between your phone and multiple satellites in orbit. They can get confused by buildings, trees, and hillsides, resulting in less accurate distance measurement. For better accuracy, choose a place to walk in an open area with a clear view of the sky and no twists or turns.
Measured Mile
Another method is to use an online mapping site to map a mile course in your local area, then walk it with a fitness tracker. For the best accuracy, choose a straight path without turns and curves.
We Walked for Weeks to Find the 9 Best Pedometers of 2024
Stride Length
An average stride length that you will see listed in many places is 2.2 feet (0.67 meters) for women and 2.5 feet (0.762 meters) for men, but it depends very much on height. Measuring your stride length will give you a much more accurate number of steps per mile.
Your stride length is the distance from the heel print of one foot to the heel print of the other foot. This is the distance traveled forward by a single leg.
Your stride length varies depending on whether you are walking or running and whether you are on hills or rough trails or crossing streets with starts and stops. To measure your stride length, you can use various methods such as walking a football field (300 feet) and stride length equations.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
Stride Length Equations
Here is how to calculate your stride length:
- 300 divided by step count = stride length in feet
- 3,600 divided by step count = stride length in inches
If you know your stride length, your steps per mile will be:
- 5,280 divided by your stride length in feet.
- 63,360 divided by your stride length in inches.
How Many Steps Should You Aim for Each Day?
Device Correction
If you find that your fitness tracker tells you that you have gone farther than a mile in a measured mile, then increase the stride length programmed in the tracker. If it tells you that you have gone less than a mile in a measured mile, reduce your stride length programmed into the tracker.
Fitness trackers you wear on your wrist may be counting arm motion rather than steps. Read the instructions to see how to set its sensitivity so it isn’t over-counting steps.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
Research also shows that a fitness tracker on your non-dominate wrist is better for accuracy.4 For example, if you are right-handed, wear it on your left wrist.
Your steps per mile will be inaccurate when wearing a wrist-based fitness tracker if you don’t use arm motion, such as when holding onto the handrails of a treadmill or pushing a baby stroller. They may also be inaccurate when using trekking poles and not moving them every step.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
How Many Calories Do You Burn Walking Per Mile?
How many steps or strides it will take to walk a mile depends significantly on your individual step or stride length. This varies from person to person and can be influenced by your height, age, and fitness level.5 Use a fitness tracker to help you determine your steps per mile, along with the calculations for determining your personal step rate above.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
